Day 29: West Plains to Poplar Bluff

The weather forecasters had it right. The start of today's 114 mile ride was delayed by lightning and heavy rain. Once the lightning ceased about half of the riders headed out on their bikes in moderate to heavy rain, including the 4 or 5 from our original group of 15 who have pedaled every mile across the country. It's probably fortuitous that my streak ended in eastern Oklahoma, because I had no hesitation getting into the van. Several who did start out ended up in the van before the morning was over.

The rain ended about lunch time so I got back on my bike and rode the last 61 miles to Poplar Bluff. I've included several pictures from our lunch stop. It was a beautiful setting and I thought you might want to see what a typical lunch stop looked like.

I soloed most of the way and had a nice ride except for the DOGS. I was chased at least a dozen times often by several dogs at a time. It appears that the number and meanness of the dogs is proportional to the amount of junk in their owners yard - and there are a lot of junky yards in the Ozark's.

Here are a few other observations from today's ride:

Armadillo's are not very good at crossing roads - based on the number of dead ones I saw today they are either very slow and/or have a very bad sense of timing.

I pedaled through the little town of Fair Dealing - they need to start cheating because it appears the town has not been dealt a good hand in a long time.

The last 40 miles of the ride passed through many areas that marked the western edge of the Civil War - the town of Doniphan was completely destroyed. As I grew closer to Poplar Bluff the terrain changed dramatically from the rolling wooded hills of the Ozark's to the table-top flat farmlands of the Mississippi Valley. Our route took me through many of Poplar Bluff's neighborhoods. It appears to be a nice mid-western town with a good industrial base - including a large Briggs&Stratton plant.

During tomorrow's 111 mile ride we will be crossing the Mississippi River by one of the last remaining riverboat ferries. We'll also pedal across about 8 miles of Kentucky on our way to Union City TN - so 3 states plus a ferry ride. It should be an interesting day.

P.S. - Yes my quads are still a problem, but I'm trying to ignore them.

Steve